Kleiner Perkins' EEStor Investment: 1 of 30 Green Techs

In April 2008, John Doerr gave a keynote speech at MIT, the alma mater and former employer of EEStor inventor Carl Nelson. The setting was the 2008 Energy Conference and Doerr kept the session interactive by a subtle and unusual technique of soliciting groups of questions which were responded to with individual attention inconsistently, allowing him to sidestep a question about electrification which seemed to provoke an intriguing set of behavioral cues the interpretation of which is best left to experts. Doerr pointed out that over the years, MIT had invested $50Mil in KPCB ventures from which $500Mil had been returned. Additionally, Doerr pointed out that 6 of the 30 green tech ventures they are backing are in the area surrounding MIT, not including A123 Systems which was funded by Kleiner rival Sequoia Capital...among others.

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LightEVS Pitches EEStor at Interbike 2008

Note: I'm going to postpone the posting of the interview with Carl Watkins of LightEVS for the time being. Instead, I'm going to put in front of it some very interesting information I've learned from speaking with some of the entities who were approached by LIghtEVS at Interbike regarding the EEStor technology that was just announced.

First, I have been in contact with some of the exhibitors at Interbike 2008 who have shared with me their experience of talking with Carl Watkins and John Stephens at the show. These sources have asked to remain anonymous so that their disclosures do not impact their ability to possibly utilize the EEStor technology in their ebikes. They have agreed to stay in contact with me as they go through their discussions with LightEVS although they recognize that at some point NDA's will shut off their ability to share information.

I am told that Mr. Watkins and Mr. Stephens approached many exhibitors at Interbike to discuss their license. The uniform first impression of those I've spoken to is that their pitch set off many scammer alarm bells for those who heard it. The pitch included many hitherto unseen capabilities in the ebike world:

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EEStor Confirms New Contract

Ever since we learned last week of the DoD Wearable Power competition that is occurring now, there's been a swirl of speculation as to whether or not Lockheed Martin is fielding EEstor technology in the event. For my part, I've tried to get Lockheed to comment but have been unable to find anyone who will either confirm or DENY that EEStor technology is in the mix. The most I've heard is that Craig Vanbebber responded to some questions posed by Bettina Chavanne from Aviation Week about this topic but did not provide definitive information. I haven't been able to reach Mrs. Chavanne either. So, my next step was to contact the official channels and was able to reach Cdr Darryn James, who is listed as a contact for the contest. He mentioned to me that he was working on a new press release at that very moment with the names of the top 20 teams still in the competition. He could not confirm or deny EEStor involvement and wasnt familiar with all details like that. Lockheed was definitely in the final 20.

So, it was in that dark, uninformed scenario, that I thought I'd make one last attempt by querying a definitive source, ie, Dick Weir. In reading through my interview notes, I can see that it will appear that I really pressed him for an answer on the competition. I noticed that I failed to get a "no" from him (what I've been looking to get from Lockheed too). In any case, I must have badgered him just enough to get him to mention his latest contract for which he anticipates seeing an announcement "soon."

Interview from Sept 29, 2008.

Dick Weir: Dick Weir

Blogger: Dick, do you have EEstor technology in the wearable power competition sponsored by the DoD?

DW: Who am I talking to?

B: This is the eestor blogger, sir. How are you doing today?

DW: Hey, how you doing? What we're doing with Lockheed is proprietary with Lockheed Martin. There is a huge demand though for the wearable power situation because of the problems in the field. And EEstor thinks our technology is superior to lithium ion and so, if asked, we would certainly be willing to write a contract for batteries in the wearable power space.

B: Are you aware of the competition taking place right now sponsored by the Dept of Defense out in California at TwentyNine Palms...?

DW: yeah, we heard about that. That might be attractive. Right now we're on a path to produce batteries and things look great.

B: You know Senator John Warner was one of the sponsors of the bill that provided the funding for that type of a competition to support the military.

DW: Oh great, let me look into that.I wasn't aware that there was money involved. Let me take a peak at it.

B: It's a million dollar prize goes to the best wearable power out there today. And I've just learned that Lockheed Martin has made it into the final 20 teams but cant get confirmation as to whether or not they arefielding EEStor technology.

DW: Well EESTor is on a path. We've told everybody. This is not news that properly funded, we anticipate to be in production mid next year. If that meets that contest, then we'll probably serve up a battery for it. But we're on our path for success and we're plowing into that path and we're happy with our progress.

B: But that contest is taking place right now, sir.

DW: Im just telling you how I feel. We're very happy with our progress. And very happy that our battery will officially win a contract in that field when we have batteries to go and enter into military contracts.

B: One of the last things in relation to the last press release, was the desire on EEStor's part to achieve military specs. And people are trying to connect that press release to this contest.

DW: There are huge amounts of mission critical military contracts that need advanced technologies. And we will certainly compete in those as we go forward.

B: Are you in the competition?

DW: Im just saying. This is what I am saying. We are on a path here to be in production mid next year and with proper funding, thats what we're going through now and we're happy with that. We've landed another contract which is good and helps us, a very substantial contract with another company. With that now, we take those funds and move forward.

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EEStor Lands New Contract

EEStor CEO, Dick Weir has confirmed that it has "landed another contract, a very substantial contract with another company" for exclusive rights to the global two and three wheeled vehicle market that is "signed, sealed and delivered." Weir went on to say, "We're just waiting for them to put out a press release on it. I can't say the name of the company, we'll let them announce that."

Complete Details including further interview questions to be posted later today. For discussion, visit TheEEStory.com

Previously, EEStor has signed agreements with Zenn Motor Company and Lockheed Martin.

EVcast Interview of EEStor Blogger

Somebody claiming to be the EEStor blogger was interviewed on EVcast today. Is this the mystery EEStor blogger? :-)

Link to the PodCast.

EEven EEStor would find this one EEnteresting...

Are you part of the EEStory? Yes/No? You're not sure. OK. But maybe you are. Maybe you lurk this site looking for references to what you know about EEStor. Question: wIll today be the day that the EEStor blogger tracks you down to solicit a comment? You never know! Maybe it would be better to proactively reach out to the blogger by sending an email to eestorblog@gmail.com? Take the case of Zibo Jiang from LInhai, China. In every way, just an ordinary graduate student embarking on what will certainly be a bright future for an extremely talented young person. A few years back, he studied in the UK at Birmingham University and moved on to MIT for a Masters of Engineering in Materials Science and Engineering. At some point in his journey, Mr. Jiang was bitten by the same bug that has bitten you dear reader. I'm talking about the EEStor bug of course. Mr. Jiang, like so many of us, succumbed to the mystery and [i] in partial fulfillment of the requirements[/i] for his degree, Mr. Jiang wrote a Master's Thesis on9url=http://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/42142/228303788.pdf?sequence=1] "Technology Assessment and Market Analysis of Solid State Ultracapacitors."[/url] Welcome to the EEStory, Mr. Jiang! Yes, fascinating read, sir! What's that? You want to bring someone with you into the EEStory? Ok, no problem who? Sayt it again, didnt catch that. Your Thesis Supervisor? Yes, sure, no problem, the more the merrier. But why would your Thesis Supervisor come with you into the EEStory, sir? Who was your Thesis Supervisor? Yet-Ming Chiang. Hhmm....doesn't ring a bell. Wait a second, do you mean the Yet-Ming Chiang of A123 Systems fame?

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Mysterious EEStor Blogger to be interviewed on EVCast

Tomorrow, Sept 24, 2008 at 1000 EST, I will be joining the folks at EVCast for a little discussion about EEStor. It will be broadcast live and audience members can ask questions....not that I have anything interesting to say of course. Accordingly, it will probably be about a 5 minute conversation.

http://www.evcast.com/members/evcast/broadcast

EEStor Documentary

About a month ago, following the hoopla concerning EEStor's most recent press release, I received an intriguing email from Michael Blieden, a movie/tv director whose work includes a fair bit of comedy, a documentary called Super High Me, and a series of music videos starring comedian/actor Zack Galifianakis lip syncing songs from biggies Kayne West, Fiona Apple and Aimee Mann among other things. Check out his website here. and see all of his work here. In his email, Blieden indicated he was an avid follower of the blog and alternative energy issues in general partially as a function of his father having worked on the Alternative Energy Commission for Jimmy Carter. Over the last 4 weeks, we've had some hit or miss communications but finally got together in person atop the Altitude Sky Lounge in the Gaslamp district of San Diego. The purpose of the meeting was simply to get a feel for each other and learn a little bit about Blieden's interest in doing a documentary about EEStor including some of the antics and drama that take place on this website.

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Ian Clifford to answer questions posed by TheEEStory.com Community

Ian Clifford, head of Zenn Motor Company, has agreed to answer questions developed by TheEEStory.com community. To participate, submit questions via the comment section of the original announcement. Zenn Motor Company is the first manufacturer to market EEStor Inc. Electrical Energy Storage Untits (EESU's), a rival technology to Lithium Ion, in use by the recently announced GM Volt vehicle and other vehicles under development.

To discuss possible contenders for questions to submit, visit this thread.

Maxwell talks about EEStor

For extended discussion of this interview, please use this Forum Topic: http://www.theeestory.com/topics/322

Almost any mystery has the power to suck you in. What would my living room look like if I rearranged the furniture? What do my neighbors think of me? Could I earn more money if I tweaked my investment plan by doing X, Y or Z? Could I adapt my recipe for beef ribs by adding ___ and enhancing the flavor? For any topic, there's much room for misinterpreting, misunderstanding or just plain asking the wrong questions. We only have to look at a lot of the dialogue on this site and it's predecessor to see all of that type of speculation about various aspects of EEStor and the many attempts to crack the nut.

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